Posted by firemonkey on April 2, 2013, at 6:22:45
Russo and Charney do a brief write up on recent work of Nasca et al., who find that a common dietary supplement, L-acetylcarnitine, is a potential rapidly acting antidepressant:
Over the past 50 y, there have been few mechanistically distinct drugs for the treatment of major depressive disorders, despite the fact that nearly two-thirds of patients do not achieve full remission of symptoms on currently available antidepressants. In addition, even when adequate remission is achieved, patients require 24 wk of treatment before any significant effects, increasing the risk for complications, such as suicide. This delay in effectiveness has resulted in a major push to identify and develop novel therapeutics with more rapid effects. The recent identification of ketamine as a rapid antidepressant effective in treatment-resistant patients has been groundbreaking.
Nasca et al. describe in PNAS a unique potential rapidly acting antidepressant, l-acetylcarnitine (LAC), which is a dietary supplement that acts by acetylating protein targets to control their function. LAC is reported to be well tolerated and can readily cross the blood-brain barrier.
http://mindblog.dericbownds.net/2013/04/a-next-generation-of-antidepressants.htm
Yet inside there is this perpetual nagging doubt;
the feeling we are possessed by a 'subtle lack of togetherness'
poster:firemonkey
thread:1041520
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130322/msgs/1041520.html